Matthew Blevins, 33, was found dead on Wednesday, March 17, 2021, behind a vacant house in the 1400 block of Laurens Street in West Baltimore. An autopsy found that he had died of blunt force injuries, and the medical examiner ruled his death a homicide. The Baltimore Police Department investigated, and the Baltimore Sun's homicide database lists his death as a homicide, dated March 22, 2021, the day the autopsy finding was made.
What little is known comes from brief police statements
repeated by local news outlets. According to CBS Baltimore, officers "responded at around 1:49 p.m. to the back of a vacant house in the 1400 block of Laurens Street for a suspicious death." When they arrived, they met city medics who had just pronounced Blevins dead. Police said he was from Unionville, Virginia, which suggests he may have been a visitor to Baltimore rather than a resident of the block where he was found. The station's report on the case carried the headline that police were investigating "the murder of a Virginia man," and noted that he was found on St. Patrick's Day.
Police did not say how long Blevins had been in Baltimore, why he was on Laurens Street, or whether he had been killed where he was found. The public record does not say whether he was attacked by a stranger or by someone he knew, whether a robbery or an argument was involved, or whether anyone saw what happened. No detail about a weapon has been released, and police have not said whether they identified a suspect. No obituary, memorial page or family fundraiser could be verified for this story, so almost nothing about his life, his work or the people who loved him has entered the public record.
His name was not forgotten. In the weeks after his death, Blevins was among the homicide victims read aloud by name on WYPR's Midday program in its segment "Names of Baltimore's Fallen," and his name, with his age, appeared in the printed bulletin for "A Vigil for Unity & Hope," a service held on April 22, 2021, by the Presbytery of Baltimore to remember people killed in the city. Catholic Review also listed him among the victims for whom readers were asked to pray by name.
Laurens Street is a rowhouse street in West Baltimore. Vacant houses in the city can be places where people shelter or pass through out of sight of the street, which may have made it harder for investigators to learn who was present before Blevins was found.
After the unrest of 2015, Baltimore recorded more than 300 homicides a year for eight straight years, and the share of killings that ended in an arrest fell sharply.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Matthew Blevins could be found in news archives or public records. More than five years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who was near the 1400 block of Laurens Street in mid-March 2021, or who knew Matthew Blevins and why he had come to Baltimore from Virginia, may hold information that matters. Even a small detail, such as a name overheard, a vehicle seen nearby or a conversation remembered, can help detectives move a case forward. Anyone with information can call Baltimore Police homicide detectives at 410-396-2100, or leave an anonymous tip with Metro Crime Stoppers of Maryland at 1-866-7LOCKUP (1-866-756-2587).
